A Failure to Communicate, Part II

Previously we discussed the issues of channel communication breakdown from both a product knowledge and promotion information standpoint.  Now that we have identified the problem, let’s take a look at the vertical search solution.

“Placement in vertical search engines is all about fishing where the fish are. You need to go where the target group you're trying to reach is," says Scott Virkler, vice president of business development at GlobalSpec, which links buyers and sellers of electrical, mechanical and optical products and has been around since 1996.

Throughout the purchasing cycle, 93 percent of business professionals reportedly use the Internet during some phase of research, and 37 percent do both researching and purchasing online. Most significantly, however, 64 percent of business professionals say they use search engines as a main resource to find products and services and these numbers are growing.

This high level of search activity creates a huge opportunity for business-to-business advertisers who are increasing online advertising spending as the burgeoning Internet ad industry continues to grow from an estimated $5.6 billion in 2005 to $11 billion by 2008.

So what are the key indicators of a high performing vertical search platform?

The particular audience targeted has unique needs not adequately served.
Finding product and promotion information for price sensitive proposals is an area of extreme frustration for resellers. Main search engines and vendor specific web sites don’t address the need and require the reseller to spend far too much time looking for specific results.
The search mission is both highly specific and success has a high value.
BTB campaigns must target specific audiences likely to become both immediate and long-term customers. Conversion rates tracked across multiple search engines show that searchers who are ready to spend most often connect to sites from niche, or vertical, search engines.  In most channel selling situations, particularly in low margin items, price is the impelling factor.  Allowing the reseller easy access to promotions to increase his bottom line ups the ante for him to sell your software solution.
The vertical search platform morphs into something more: e.g., promotion search becomes a marketing tool (enabling personalization, target send involvement, user-generated rankings and loyalty).  Most effective vertical search engines include the ability to evaluate results, fostering confidence in these results.  In turn, these results can be formatted into marketing pieces and emailed to customers.
A highly targeted audience of ready-to-purchase buyers that return to the platform.
Business searchers turn to vertical engines as a main resource because they care more about the relevancy of search results than about the number of results returned. This makes vertical engines the most effective way to generate the highest conversion rates and ROI on marketing efforts. 
Vertical search engines can bring success to many marketing initiatives including promotions, product information dissemination, and name recognition.  Just make sure that the one you choose can demonstrate the above and prove its ROI. 

Debbie Engnell, vice president of product development, PromoPipeline, 80 Villa Road, Greenville, SC 29615 866/372-0329. Email: dengnell@PromoPipeline.com.
Website: www.promopipeline.com